Modular Group Representations and Fusion in Logarithmic Conformal Field Theories and in the Quantum Group Center

The SL(2, ℤ)-representation π on the center of the restricted quantum group at the primitive 2p^th root of unity is shown to be equivalent to the SL(2, ℤ)-representation on the extended characters of the logarithmic (1, p) conformal field theory model. The multiplicative Jordan decomposition of the ribbon element determines the decomposition of π into a ``pointwise' product of two commuting SL(2, ℤ)-representations, one of which restricts to the Grothendieck ring; this restriction is equivalent to the SL(2, ℤ)-representation on the (1, p)-characters, related to the fusion algebra via a nonsemisimple Verlinde formula. The Grothendieck ring of at the primitive 2p^th root of unity is shown to coincide with the fusion algebra of the (1, p) logarithmic conformal field theory model. As a by-product, we derive q-binomial identities implied by the fusion algebra realized in the center of .